6.  The applicant was born in 1976 and lived before his arrest in the Kaliningrad region. He is currently serving a prison sentence in a correctional colony in the Kaliningrad region.
7. The applicant stood trial on charges of robbery and murder before the Kaliningrad Regional Court (“the Regional Court”).
8.  On 10 June 2003 the Regional Court found the applicant guilty of robbery and aggravated murder, and sentenced him to twenty years’ imprisonment with forfeiture of estate. The applicant’s co-defendant, Sh., was found guilty of conspiring to commit robbery, incitement to commit robbery, aiding and abetting, and concealing evidence of murder.
9.  Regarding the applicant’s right to appeal against his conviction, the judgment of 10 June 2003 stated as follows:
“The judgment may be appealed against to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation by lodging grounds of appeal with the Kaliningrad Regional Court within ten days of the date of the pronouncement of the judgment. Convicted persons held in detention may appeal against the judgment within the same time-limit, which starts to run from the day when they received a copy of the judgment.
If an appeal is lodged, the convicted persons are entitled to apply for participation in the examination of their case by the appeal court.”
10.  The record of the hearing before the trial court, which was issued on 16 June 2003, stated as follows:
“The procedure for lodging an appeal against the judgment within ten days of its pronouncement was explained [to the parties], as was the procedure for convicted persons to lodge appeals within the same time-limit, starting to run from the date on which they received a copy of the judgment.
The right to apply for leave to take part in the examination of the case by the appeal court was also explained”.
11.  On 17 June 2003 a copy of the judgment of 10 June 2003 was served on the applicant.
12.  On 24 June 2003 the applicant’s co-defendant appealed against the judgment of 10 June 2003 to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation (“the Supreme Court”). He submitted that it was him and not the applicant who had committed the murder, but that the trial court had not verified his version of the events.
13.  The Government submitted that on an unspecified date the applicant had appealed against the judgment of 10 June 2003. However, the Regional Court had returned his grounds of appeal to him for correction. In its accompanying letter the Regional Court advised the applicant that his grounds of appeal should comply with the requirements of Article 375 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (“the CCrP”). The Government did not provide the Court with a copy of that letter.
14.  On 5 July 2003 the applicant, who was detained in Kaliningrad remand prison, submitted a corrected version of his grounds of appeal against the judgment of 10 June 2003. He complained, in particular, that he had not committed the impugned crimes and had an alibi which the trial court had refused to verify; police officers had ill-treated him during the pre-trial investigation to extort a confession from him; and his conviction had been based on statements by witness P. and his co-defendant, Sh., given during the pre-trial investigation under pressure by police officers, and which they had refuted before the trial court. Moreover, Sh. had confessed before the trial court to having committed the murder himself. The applicant asked the appeal court to quash his conviction. When lodging his appeal, the applicant did not expressly state that he wished to take part in the appeal hearing.
15.  According to the Government, on 3 November 2003 the Regional Court informed all the participants of the proceedings, including the applicant and his counsel, that the criminal case had been referred to the Supreme Court.
16.  On 10 November 2003 the applicant submitted a request to take part in the examination of his appeal by the Supreme Court. On 17 November 2003 the applicant’s co-defendant also applied for leave to take part in the appeal hearing. According to the Government, the Supreme Court received those requests on 26 November 2003.
17.  On 26 November 2003 the applicant submitted additional grounds of appeal, which were received by the Supreme Court on 2 December 2003. However, he did not state in his additional grounds of appeal that he wished to take part in the appeal hearing.
18.  On 18 December 2003 the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation (“the Supreme Court”), referring to Articles 375 § 2, 376 and 377 of the CCrP (see Relevant domestic law below), dismissed the requests submitted by the applicant and his co-defendant to take part in the appeal hearing. The Supreme Court held as follows:
“... on 10 November 2003 Mr Kozlitin submitted a request to take part in the examination of his criminal case by the appeal court.
It follows from the materials of the case that the judgment was delivered on 10 June 2003 and copies of that judgment were served [on the convicted persons] on 17 June 2003.
... on 5 July 2003 Mr Kozlitin submitted his grounds of appeal, in which he did not express his wish to take part in the appeal hearing.
On 3 November 2003 the case, together with grounds of appeal submitted by the convicted persons, was forwarded to the Supreme Court of RF [Russian Federation] ... The case arrived at the Supreme Court on 10 November 2003.
It was not until 10 and 17 November 2003 respectively that the convicted persons [the applicant and his co-defendant] submitted requests for participation in the appeal hearing.
However, their requests should not be granted, since in accordance with Article 375 § 2 of the UPK RF [CCrP] if a convicted person expresses a wish to take part in the examination of his case by the appeal court, he should indicate this in his grounds of appeal.
The convicted persons did not indicate in their grounds of appeal their wish to be brought to the Supreme Court of the RF [Russian Federation]. Instead they lodged such requests five months later, when their case had already arrived at the Supreme Court of the RF”.
19.  On the same date the Supreme Court examined the appeals lodged by the applicant and his co-defendant against the judgment of 10 June 2003 in their absence. The applicant was not represented at that hearing. The prosecutor was present at the hearing and supported upholding the applicant’s conviction. He requested reclassification of the applicant’s actions in accordance with amendments to the Criminal Code.
20.  Having studied the materials of the case, the appeal court found that the trial court had verified Sh.’s version of the events whereby he and not the applicant had committed the murder. However, that version had not been confirmed by the materials of the case. The applicant’s alibi had been verified and had been disproved by the statements of witness Shch., which had also been corroborated by other evidence. Furthermore, the defendants’ complaints of unlawful pressure by the police were unsubstantiated and refuted by evidence in the case.
21.  On the same date the Supreme Court reclassified the crimes committed by the applicant. In particular, it excluded a number of aggravating circumstances and amended the applicant’s sentence to exclude forfeiture of his estate. The Supreme Court upheld the rest of the judgment.